Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Ver. 1. Then Solomon began to build.] {See Trapp on "1 Kings 6:1"} &c

At Jerusalem in mount Moriah.] Where Isaac, as a type of Christ, bore the wood, obeyed his father, and should have been sacrificed. Calvary, where our Saviour suffered, was either a part of this mount, or very near unto it.

2 Chronicles 3:2 And he began to build in the second [day] of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Ver. 2. In the fourth year of his reign.] Temple work meets with many problems, and goes not on too hastily.

2 Chronicles 3:3 Now these [are the things wherein] Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure [was] threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

Ver. 3. Wherein Solomon was instructed.] Heb., Founded. To be well instructed, is to be well grounded; for want whereof, many are wherried about with divers and strange doctrines. [Hebrews 13:9]

2 Chronicles 3:4 And the porch that [was] in the front [of the house], the length [of it was] according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height [was] an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

Ver. 4. And the porch.] See on 1 Kings 6:3.

And he overlaid it within with pure gold.] Such was Christ’s inside; [Colossians 2:9] in his outside was no such desirable beauty; so [Isaiah 53:2] the Church’s glory is inward, [Psalms 45:13] in the hidden man of the heart. [1 Peter 3:4]

2 Chronicles 3:5 And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.

Ver. 5. Which he overlaid with fine gold.] As the parts of this temple were not seen naked, so neither must our souls be seen without faith, love, and other golden graces.

2 Chronicles 3:6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold [was] gold of Parvaim.

Ver. 6. And he garnished the house with precious stones.] Every one of which had some egregious virtue: so, much more hath effectual faith, laborious love, reverent fear, patient hope, right repentance, assured confidence, &c., and - that which holdeth all these together lovely lowly mindedness. See 1 Peter 5:5. {See Trapp on "1 Peter 5:5"}

And the gold was gold of Parvaim.] That is, Of Havilah, [Genesis 2:11] where the best gold is, saith Junius, and where, Pliny saith, ^(a) there is a town called, corruptly, Parbacia. Others take it for Ophir, now called Peru, the greater and the lesser; whence the word here used is of the dual number. It hath affinity with Epher, dust, and Peer, comeliness: the finest gold is but yellow earth.

2 Chronicles 3:7 He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.

Ver. 7. He overlaid also the house.] All the inside of it. Let us spare for no cost, ut aureos et argenteos animos, hoc est, variis virtutibus excultos habeamus. ^(a) Gold and silver will perish, though they be tried in the fire; [1 Peter 1:7] so will not true grace: it will one day be glory.

And graved cherubims.] See 1 Kings 6:23. Angels are present in the assemblies of God’s people.

2 Chronicles 3:8 And he made the most holy house, the length whereof [was] according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, [amounting] to six hundred talents.

Ver. 8. Six hundred talents.] Which is, as we count it, two millions and two hundred and fifty thousand pound.

2 Chronicles 3:9 And the weight of the nails [was] fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

Ver. 9. And he overlaid the upper chambers.] These were, saith Diodate, certain principal rooms of the building of the porticoes, appointed for the holy ministers to make their meals in, like unto refectories; or else for places of meetings and counsel. See 1 Chronicles 28:11.

2 Chronicles 3:10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.

Ver. 10. Two cherubims of image work.] Opere exemtili, so Tremellius; of work that might be taken asunder. Or of moving work, so others; that is to say, made as if they were in the act of flying or going. If it were image work - cherubims were made like boys, - yet this is no plea for Popish images; since they are flatly forbidden; and God made the law for us, not for himself.

2 Chronicles 3:11 And the wings of the cherubims [were] twenty cubits long: one wing [of the one cherub was] five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing [was likewise] five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.
2 Chronicles 3:12 And [one] wing of the other cherub [was] five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing [was] five cubits [also], joining to the wing of the other cherub.

Ver. 11, 12. See on 1 Kings 6:24, &c.

2 Chronicles 3:13 The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces [were] inward.

Ver. 13. And their faces were inward.] Heb., Toward the house; i.e., toward the holy place, called the greater house. [2 Chronicles 3:5]

2 Chronicles 3:14 And he made the vail [of] blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

Ver. 14. And he made the veil.] See on 1 Kings 6:21.

2 Chronicles 3:15 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that [was] on the top of each of them [was] five cubits.

Ver. 15. Also he made before the house two pillars.] These were cast by Hiram, as great ordnance are now-a-days, round and hollow. See on 1 Kings 7:15.

2 Chronicles 3:16 And he made chains, [as] in the oracle, and put [them] on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put [them] on the chains.
2 Chronicles 3:17 And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

Ver. 16,17. See 1 Kings 7:17-18; 1 Kings 7:21.